EU4Youth Alumni Network: the latest Idealab

On 22–23 January, the EU4Youth Alumni Network held an IdeaLab event to develop initiatives for disadvantaged youth groups in their local communities. A total of 73 Alumni from six different countries came together to spend two days working with 70 young representatives from the beneficiary groups.

Together they developed plans for up to 54 initiatives to be implemented between February and June this year. The programmes focus on regional support and will reach out to at least 900 disadvantaged young people in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.

Information about young people’s interests, needs and ideas had already been collected from the target groups. The IdeaLab focused on processing that data and using it as a basis for developing concrete initiatives. By the end of the event, a set of step-by-step plans was ready to be implemented.

There’s palpable excitement about the coming months. An Alumni from Georgia, Giga Tskhoidze, explained that the “IdeaLab tremendously increased our motivation about our future activities and made us ready to start working with our target groups!”For Rezida, an Alumni from Azerbaijan, the achievements of the IdeaLab show the strength of a group of “young people with the power to make a positive contribution to our communities”.  It’s truly satisfying when a plan comes together.

The EU4Youth Alumni Network will continue to provide educational opportunities, mentoring and financial support. A mid-term meeting and a final evaluation meeting will also be organised.

Established last year, the EU4Youth Alumni Network worked with 70 Alumni to develop 50 initiatives. More than 550 activities were rolled out, reaching more than 1 100 disadvantaged young people in the Eastern Partnership region. As the programme’s second year gets underway, the IdeaLab has given it a huge boost.